The OMG forklifts ordered by the Belgian army.

OMG importer ACD Handling has beaten 12 major forklift manufacturers to win a 42-forklift order from the Belgian army.

Daniel Hanssens, who started ACD Handling in 1998, said his company delivered 24 NEOS 29 SE reach trucks and 11 ERGOS 20 TA4 and seven ERGOS 30 TA4 counterbalanced forklifts to the Belgian army.

After six months of negotiations, OMG beat BT, Jungheinrich, Toyota, Still, Om Pimespo, Crown, Komatsu, Manitou, Loc, Heli, Caterpillar and Clark to win the contract.

Hanssens would not disclose the order value and said the NEOS trucks were electric forklifts that could be used indoors and outdoors.

"We adapted the machine for that. Instead of small, hard tyres we used special tyres and we had to protect the electronics from rain by using caps, cases and plastic foams," he said.

Hanssens, who attended CeMAT 2005 in Hannover, said his company received many orders from the successful launch of GAZ and diesel forklifts at the fair.

Brussels based ACD Handling now has a network of 14 dealers in Belgium, six in Netherlands and one in Luxemburg.

OMG, based in Gonzaga, northern Italy, started producing forklifts in 1983. Its 70-model range includes reach trucks, four-way reach trucks, rough-terrain reach trucks, powered pallet trucks and stackers, order pickers, electric side-loaders and electric counterbalanced forklifts. OMG builds about 4,500 forklifts a year.